According to the National Safety Council, tens of thousands of people die in traffic-related crashes and accidents every year. A high number of related fatalities in California often cause the state to rank on lists about the nation’s most dangerous roads. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) describes California as experiencing a “road safety crisis.” Read on to learn more…
Seriously Troubling Statistics
Data from the “2023 California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) Annual Report” revealed that an estimated 4,400 people died in car crashes on California’s roads in 2022, 19 of those deaths occurred in the city of Modesto alone. This means that approximately 12 fatalities occurred every day on California’s highways, byways, streets and other roadways from traffic-related incidents. Even after OTS invested $110 million with federal funds for 373 traffic safety grants and programs, California remains a deadly state for drivers, passengers, bicyclists, pedestrians and others who use roads.
Common Causes of Accidents
According to a July 2024 Consumer Affairs study and report, California experienced a 17% increase in fatalities from car accidents from 2018 to 2022, even though the state also saw a reduction in its overall population. California’s OTS attributed part of this problem to dangerous driving habits that people accepted as the norm during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as drivers speeding on roads that had less traffic. Speeding has been a problem in rural areas with open roads and less traffic density as well.
As with most states, California experiences a high number of traffic accidents because of risk-taking passenger vehicle drivers who get behind the wheel while intoxicated from alcohol or drugs or allow themselves to become distracted in various ways. The state also has problems with drivers who fail to yield properly and people in general who fail to maintain situational awareness.
California has a lot of problems because of traffic congestion. Many accidents occur in urban areas on overpacked roads with stop-start traffic and bicyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians near passenger motor vehicle traffic. There are also many temporarily parked commercial vehicles with drivers and others performing loading and unloading of items or people close to moving traffic. Additionally, bad or unexpected weather and driving conditions, dusk and dawn visual difficulties, road construction, and the location, shape and length of some roads cause accidents.
The Most Dangerous Roads
Many crashes take place on Southern California highways. Of the 10 deadliest roads in California noted by Consumer Affairs, six are in the southern portion of the state. In fact, in 2022, the top five were in that region (i.e., Interstate 15 in San Bernardino, Interstate 10 in Riverside, Interstate 5 in San Diego, Interstate 5 in Orange, and U.S. Route 101 in Santa Barbara). The other five include one SoCal location (i.e., Interstate 10 in Los Angeles) and Interstate 880 in Alameda, State Route 4 in Contra Costa, a tie between State Route 178 and State Route 99 in Kern, and U.S. Route 101 in Santa Clara.
That year, 48 people died on the I-15 in San Bernardino. The entire county had 20 deaths per every 100,000 people. Along the long stretch of the 1-5, where traffic becomes overly dense and drivers experience increased stress and stop-start agitation, 128 people lost their lives. Straight terrain also made some roads more dangerous because drivers believed they could see enough to speed carefully. Yet, speeding accounted for 31% of all crashes in 2022.
Other roads rank in general among the deadliest. For example, a hundred miles without roadside assistance or services coupled with sunlight glare at sunrise and sunset often results in crashes along the 151 miles of California’s State Road 62 (SR-62). It is considered one of the most desolate sections of road anywhere. State Road 2 (SR-2), part of Angeles Crest Scenic Byway, often causes fatal accidents because of sharp ascents and descents and blind curves in hilly and mountainous terrain.